Contactless use in banking grows as 10th anniversary approaches

Contactless (in banking at least) reaches 10 years old this year. Hard to believe? Seems like it's been around for a long time, and that's true if you look more broadly at the use of this type of technology. Transport for London was the forerunner, launching the Oyster card in 2003 - something that proved to be a huge success in London.

It's taken slightly longer for us to become comfortable using the same approach to our banking. New surveys suggest that usage is growing significantly with 71% of those questioned indicating they use contactless more frequently than 12 months ago. Sceptics might say that that means usage could still be low, but research by Barclaycard suggests that just over half (51%) of card transactions up to £30 are now made using the technology.

Usage is still hindered to an extent by the availability of contactless POS, but that too will change in 2020 as requirements on merchants accepting card payments are due to change.

It all shows though that TfL was ahead of the curve when it launched the Oyster card.

{

six in 10 Brits now use contactless, with 71% saying they choose to pay with it more frequently than 12 months ago